Stall applications for Running Aces is available

COLUMBUS, MN. - Running Aces Harness Park is busy readying for its seventh season as Minnesota's lone harness track. Stall applications are now available online at http://www.runningacesharness.com/ by clicking the Racing Resources tab. Applicants are urged to submit their stall requests by April 15 and the allocation of the 240 stall barn area will be announced on the same website April 30.

Running Aces will conduct a 54-night meet in 2014 with live racing beginning Wednesday, May 28 and ending Saturday, August 30. Racing will be conducted every Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday throughout the summer with a regular 7 p.m. (CST) post time, excepting Sundays when the action will begin an hour earlier.

Overnight purse structure will be slightly higher again this year with an average purse well over $5000 and a total projected purse pool of $2,750,000 available for distribution. In addition, an estimated $260,000 supplement fund will be available to enhance the program for Minnesota-sired races.

"Our purse range will be $2500 to $10,000," reports Director of Racing Gregg Keidel, "with just a few races of minimum conditioned claimers at the low end each week and three potential weekly open events at the top end. The vast majority of the horses that will comprise our nine-race programs will compete for purses from $3000 to $7000. With $3 million up for grabs during a short racing season, there is an opportunity for most stables to have a very successful summer in Minnesota."

The barn area at Running Aces will open May 11 at 2 p.m. for those allocated stalls on April 30. A pre-meet qualifying races session has been tentatively scheduled for Saturday, May 24.